The Ale Rooms in Solihull

Good friendly atmosphere dogs are welcome and the staff are lovely, as is the beer what more can you ask for

We went to 'Viola' and enjoyed a wonderful Tapas lunch, great food at a very reasonable price!

Lovely place with lots of real ales. Very friendly staff. Recommended.

Good beer, pint of zero beer which was amazing, nice atmosphere, dog friendly and just relaxed.

A very good pub on Knowle high street that offers several cask beers and a pleasant atmosphere I believe there were seven beers on offer and I had most of them, all were well kept. The pub is dog friendly and there was a decent age range between the clientele. We didn't eat so can't comment on that. Recommended.

Excellent choice of Ales. Try before you buy. Doesn't serve food.

Great real ales delightful service staff.

Frequently changing cask ales at sensible prices, they also stock proper pork scratchings. Perhaps some more specialist whisky and spirits would elevate this venue even more!

Great micropub. Good selection of real ales.

Ale excellent. Well kept. Lacks ambience. Perhaps better when busy. Noisy when busy!

Great range of ales in a lovely sociable atmosphere.

No proper beer in for us old boys.

Friendly local, low prices and great real ale selection.

Lovely warm welcome, great beer. Malinsons a new brewery on me

Tori excellent service she was friendly quick to speak too you got smile on her face it was good service she know what regular want she good at her job she keep smile when she under pressure

Great beers, convivial atmosphere, nice prices.

My first return since Covid lockdown. Still a fantastic place with ales drinking extremely well. As before, I had a third of each on offer. Sublime. Recommended!

Great range of beers. A strange environment as the room gets wet, condensation is a real issue

I will have to go back and try again. As when I arrived I waited 10mins to be served by a girl who said she was having trouble with a barrel, after myself and another customer offering help she refused. Also and more significant than this I don't think the heat was even on. I kept my coat on, and put my scarf back on. Hoping for better next time.

Fri early eve. Busyish bar with large choice of ales

Anywhere that has the word Ale in its business name has to be experienced. Expect artisan beers of the highest quality on the humble highstreet.

Good range of beers and friendly, helpful staff. The only negatives are the bar stools are uncomfortable and the toilets aren't the best but apart from that it's probably the best place to drink in Knowle.

Good atmosphere, great beer ! 🍺

Small CAMRA bar that doesn't feel like it's a real ale place. Great selection of gins too

Excellent choice of Beers & good service

Great beer, mainly from the local Solihull brewery. Worth a visit.

Great range of beers (and gins!) Happy hour during the week is worth a visit. Always pleasant staff willing to advise and recommend. We love the place!

Friendly little bar lovely ales always at least 8 casks great staff sue was a lovely girl little tor is taking over and she's great

great place good choice of drinks staff very friendly

Just a great crowed and great atmosphere loved it

Great selection of beers and friendly atmosphere.

Great range of beers, if expensive and service slow, but if you can put up with those elements it's a reasonable place.

It is amusing to note that Tripadvisor lists The Ale Rooms as a restaurant as the menu would extend little beyond a packet of crisps. Nonetheless, the concept of a no frills venue for real ale enthusiasts is not lacking in ingenuity. Indeed, in Knowle the competition, that merely offers a narrow range of uninspiring beers as dictated by the brewery, is eclipsed. Small wonder then that The Ale Rooms have won accolades from CAMRA and a fair degree of popularity. The constantly changing bar staff are usually efficient and sometimes welcoming yet equally may be offhand and detached to the point of rudeness. A pity because with training innate qualities could be developed into a more consistent and mature standard of customer service that reflects creditably on the hospitality industry. Clearly for The Ale Rooms' employees working and social lives overlap to such an extent that the ambience is often reminiscent of a badly run youth club. Moreover, a little more decorum on their behalf might encourage the more sociopathic customers to moderate behavioural excesses. The 'Rooms' are small and when busy barely able to adequately accommodate the clientele. Furnishings are at best Spartan and largely comfortless. Wholly redundant background musak is frequently delivered at a volume that would be the envy of many a professional discotheque and combined with the appalling acoustics makes discourse at a normal conversational level impossible. These may be contributory factors to the view expressed by others that The Ale Rooms are singularly unattractive to women. Misgivings aside, those of a more philosophical disposition may be prepared to make sacrifices to indulge themselves with a decent pint.

Great atmosphere. Good selection of beers.

Nice place but sort your toilets out. Minging. With a dirty mop bucket on top of the shelf and broken taps

Great little venue with tremendous atmosphere and an exceptional choice of premium ales. A true gem.

Really good selection of ales, nice decor and comfortable seating. Seems to be pretty well stocked with a variety of spirits too. 5/5, would recommend!

Great place. Susan is amazing, so welcoming and a cracking personality. The place would not be the same without her.

My husband and I called in here for a drink during our evening walk as we had never been before (and it was very warm) The staff were cheerful and friendly. My husband said the Guiness was good and I really enjoyed my rhubarb gin and tonic ( with frozen fruit ) We will definitely return.

Our first visit since lockdown ended and we chose to sit outside as it was a pleasant sunny day. We were served by Keeley who was pleasant and attentive, answering my questions about the beers and offering small tasters if we wanted them. Between us my son and I sampled six beers; all were well kept and a variety of styles, rather than just very hoppy IPAs. We enjoy having this variety as we love sampling different beer styles. A really pleasant couple of hours and a pub well worth visiting!

First visit since the last lockdown around lunchtime on 1st June. Beer was fantastically kept, the addition of the tables outside enhanced the experience and we had some great, friendly service from Keeley. Get down and support this fantastic small business that is run with real heart.

We visited the Ale Rooms yesterday, a little Ale Bar we’d been meaning to visit for a while. We sat outside the back and was approached by a member of staff for our orders. Half way through taking our order her phone rang and she answered interrupting our order. Having two conversations, one in English with us and the other one in a foreign language with the person on the other end of the phone, she took our order and left. She returned with our drinks still on the phone chatting away so we were unable to ask for the crisps we wanted. Later after drinks I decided to use the bathroom, following covid rules I wore my mask and walked inside, to where I was greeted with the same member of staff (maskless) shouting at me to go outside as she would come to us???? At which point we decided to leave as found the staff rude. Disappointed with our first visit we won’t be returning. Such a shame as we really liked the look of this place.

With Covid I had considered not venturing out but how wrong was I . After visiting the Ale Rooms in Knowle I will definitely be returning. It was so clean and Keeley was so amazing ... I’ll definitely be returning

Great beer in great condition. Staff top notch. Observed covid protocol. Great to be back

Nice staff nice atmosphere a little bit small inside but good with the distancing. A good range of ales and gin.

Generally good, great beers and ales but the staff member on today needs to work on his customer service skills. No greeting or thanks just genral grunts and no guidance on where to sit during the Covid guidelines in place.

Love this pub, great range of drinks and friendly service as always!

The choice of beers is often limited even at the outlets serving up good quality. Here the two combine with the staff knowledgable and helpful. Never had a duff beer here and recent Covid 19 measures introduced make it a very safe place to go, never had to close for cleansing or outbreak.

Popped in for a drink just before closing. Excellent choice of gins and beers and they offer camra discount. Friendly welcome and in general very safely organised but as with most pubs social distancing seemed to be breaking down a bit towards closing.

Visited last week with my wife, adult kids and their partners. Lovely friendly welcome, good beer and relaxing atmosphere. Great to be back!

Great real ale with a good selection of ales

Great atmosphere and service from damo and Susan

I tried this bar for the first time and found it to be expensive, only as I was drinking coke and not beer. My friend was in heaven with the choice of beers, as they were cheaper than the soft drinks. I will say that too many times there are too many people in the same place at the same time.

Was is this bar on Friday night and was very concerned about social distancing. People being served at the bar, even bar stools to encourage loitering. No waiter service and staff didn’t have any PPE.

Great small pub, great well kept decent selection of beer. Friendly helpful staff.

Despite a plain highstreet shopfront this place is a beer lovers mecca! 8 real ales which are changed on a regular basis and very knowledgeable staff + good banter with the locals. Even had cheese meats and biscuits for their customers last night.. Great place

Amazing ales and good wine. Staff fantastic.

A wide range of real ales, nice setting and a great atmosphere. It's the perfect place to enjoy a couple of decent pints!

This place deserves success. A friendly crowd; staff and locals alike. There were 6 real ales on the day I went in. All were perfectly cellared & drinking well. I know because I tried them all (unless you’re hardcore I suggest you ask for a board of thirds)Recommended.

Great little atmospheric pub,selling good real ales

Lovely staff, gorgeous decor, great atmosphere and a fab place to "work from home" thats not a coffee shop. Really reccomend.

Easily the best bar in the area. Great real ales & ciders. Big choice of gins. The staff are very friendly & they give discount for CAMRA members!! Even better, I can walk here! 😄 What's not to love?

Excellent real ale bar on Knowle High Street. Top beers in too condition and a wide selection of other drinks to boot. I'd give five stars but there atmosphere isn't quite there yet. It's getting there, though.

Great place to drink beer in knowle along with the vaults. Always have an interesting array of beers with knowledgeable staff

Great little Ale pub, beer selection is good and the quality is excellent. Friendly staff always helpful.

Recently visited the Ale Rooms for a mid-week evening drink. It’s a really nice place to have on the high street, independent & looks lovely outside & in. Staff are very friendly & good selection of beers/drinks - well decorated & plenty of seating. Only suggestion/constructive feedback I have is to make the top seating area as nice as the lower area- the tartan carpet is a little dated- maybe follow the wooden flooring through the whole area.

Very friendly staff and customers, great beer!!!

Loved this place ever since it opened. Great atmosphere, the drinks are always nice with a great selection. It is an asset to the village.The ladies behind the bar are also very welcoming, Susan in particular chats with all the customers - it's so nice to see :)

Great night out, wide range of gin and ale's, very friendly staff and great service, would recommend.

Cracking little real ale place, great beers, comfy seats, great staff in a lovely village about half a mile from the Grand Union Canal. And a discount for CAMRA members. What's not to like?

Great little bar and good selection of ales. Discount on ales with camera members card

Brilliant venue with fantastic beers, very friendly staff, good music in background

Just such a happy friendly place

Great night went there for a 50th birthday, great choice of ales, gins ECT friendly staff and locals really good night

Good beer at a sensible price, what's not to like?

Cosy pub, modern but with old time feel. Friendly staff.

This place is excellent. Forget the great range of booze, the friendly atmosphere and the compfy furniture, the stand out feature is the absolutely exceptional staff. Can't say enough for um. Genuinely good people. Very recommended.

A cracker here with a nice CAMRA discount, friendly with comfy seating and great ale choice.

Love the gins here and the men love the craft beers

Yes a lovely place, nice wines & beers.worth a visit...

Nipped in to have a look ok whilst in knowle. Great little find on the high street ale and gin are their specialties

I recently decided to visit the Ale Rooms as I pass it quite a lot as I travel through Knowle three, four times a week. I was greeted by a smiling, very pleasant member of staff, who I found out later, was named Keeley (hope I spelt that correctly). She was very pleasant, attentive and may I say attractive. The bar was spotless, though that may be because it was quiet and there was only one other person there. I had a draught beer and when I’d finished, was asked if I’d like another, which I declined as I was driving. The bar was well stocked with a wide variety of draught beers and lagers, a huge gin selection and all your favourite spirits. As I was leaving Keeley wished me a good day and hoped I’d be back soon. I most definitely will. I may have found a new drinking hole and will definitely recommend it to my friends. Charlie.

Good selection of ales, they also have lagers, Guinness and spirits. Staff were friendly and helpful.

1st visit here, was Thursday and they just opened. I was the only one in. Great looking place and the person who was serving ( Kayleigh )( hope thats the right spelling) was even better. She was very friendly and took time to chat. Thanks Kayleigh for making my visit special. I will definitely pop in again if im up this way. Probably be on a Thursday.

Great place now they serve decent largers

The Ale Rooms came along and has shaken up the pubs of Knowle. Far too many of them rested on their laurels. Last night, I was 1 of about 5 people in the Wilson Arms. Yet the Ale Rooms was packed. Nice beer and friendly staff made for an excellent atmosphere. Thoroughly enjoyed their gin festival last year!

The Ale Rooms in Knowle is small but perfectly formed. It sells a selection of real ales from a chalked up, numbered menu. Don’t ask the staff for anything by name - they won’t know what you’re on about (which suggests they either change the menu on a pretty regular basis or they only employ staff with memory problems) just ask for a number 7 (or any number up to 8) and you won’t go far wrong. I was drinking a brunette by the name of Northern Best (number 7) on my recent visit while my friend was enjoying a fruity blonde known only as Blonde (number 2). A good time was had by all - which is exactly what you want from a pub.

Always a good place and a great pint!

Very nice,the gentleman that served us was very nice &helpful

Callum makes a great Chilli which is provided with snacks to dip into it. This is a free meal when you come in for a drink

First time visit, plenty ales 8 off at time of visit, holdens, brecon, church end amongst the taps, all top notch.

Great little bar. Lovely staff and super cosy...

Ales kept really well but are boring same old same old. Peaky Blinders,Holden's and so on. Perhaps at least one Craft on draft.

Small friendly bar, with a good selection of beers in great condition. Also a large selection of gins. Best beers and best value in the area.

Good choice of ales and other drinks, friendly service, nice atmosphere.

I'd heard about the Ale Rooms for a while but never had a chance to visit. Well a group of us visited and we were really pleasantly surprised at the excellent service and great array of real ales. The staff were very friendly and the whole place had a good feeling about it.. the only downer was that the Mud City Stout ran out & I'd only had the one !!

Great little mico bar..great selection of real ales all kept well ( also reductions for Camra members) and huge number of gins .. good service and very nice atmosphere ..well recommend

Says 12-11 every day on the door. Was there at 12. Not open. Says 2 online. Whatever.

Enjoyed several brews from a genial, friendly & attentive host. Thoroughly recommended if you enjoy good beer & good environment - and good service. Tops :)

Nice place and good selection of ales.